Folded mailers have become increasingly popular as a relatively inexpensive way of sending a message or advertisement. Such mailers are formed from one or more sheets of paper folded along the width two or more times, thereby partitioning the paper into two or three sections, respectively. After making the desired number of folds for a particular mailer, it is important that the edges of the folded sections are properly sealed or otherwise closed to prevent undesirable or unwanted opening during mailing.
To this end, it is of course well-known in the art to place staples to secure folded edges of paper articles together. However, placing one or more staples along the edge of a folded mailer makes opening difficult and often results in significant damage to the mailer itself. Moreover, the use of staples is troublesome in view of the advent of automatic mail handling machines. Indeed, the United States Postal Service presently frowns on the use of staples and may ultimately ban their use on such mailers.
Thus, to avoid the problem created by the use of staples, it is known to place a tab along the edge of the folded mailer. Such a tab provides the desirable features of preventing unwanted inspection during mailing, passing through mailing machinery without incident, and permitting opening of the mailer without significant damage, such as with a letter opener or paper knife. The tabs are often adhesive-backed and supplied on sheets or, more commonly, on a thin, elongate backing strip formed into a roll. Thus, placement of the tab about the edge of the mailer requires removing each individual tab from the strip or other backing. Moreover, the tab must then be carefully placed along the edge of the folded article and pressed against the sides to complete the sealing operation. For mailing even a small number of fliers, it should be appreciated that manual performance of this operation is extremely monotonous, time consuming, and an inefficient use of resources.
Previously, others have proposed a variety of automated machines for sealing such folded articles for mailing. However, all of such machines of which I am aware suffer from the problem of being bulky and complex in design. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,567 to Noll, issued May 24, 1994, discloses a device for adapting an existing postage meter to place adhesive tabs along the edges of folded articles for mailing. While this device results in some cost savings by adapting to existing equipment, it should be appreciated that most home businesses and many small businesses do not have such postage meters available for use. Moreover, the device remains relatively complex in design and also occupies a substantial amount of space, thereby prohibiting desktop storage. Other similar large and complex apparatuses are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,108 to Segalowitz et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,687 to Spear.
Thus, in view of the foregoing, a need is identified for a simple and inexpensive apparatus for dispensing a tab for placement on the edge of a folded paper article, such as a folded mailer or the like. The apparatus would be manually operable and have a compact design, thereby permitting desktop use and storage. Furthermore, the apparatus would be adjustable to reliably operate for dispensing a variety of sizes of tabs on articles having a variety of thicknesses.